The overall aims of the UIC Center of Excellence in Eliminating Disparities (CEED) are to: Aim 1: Become a university-wide crucial resource for minority health and health disparities research; Aim 2: Enhance training of faculty and students engaged in minority health and health disparities research; Aim 3: Develop and conduct leading-edge research on health disparities; Aim 4: Disseminate effective strategies for improving minority health and health disparities in community settings; and Aim 5: Develop, maintain and sustain key university-community partnerships. We will accomplish these aims through four cores, two research projects, and one dissemination project. The function of the Administrative Core is to oversee activities to successfully achieve the CEED's aims and support the Research, Training, and Community Core aims. The Research Core will coordinate ongoing research and develop new minority health and health disparities research within the CEED and encourage participation from faculty across disciplines. The Research Training and Education Core will expand and coalesce the diverse training activities at UIC to provide conceptual and methodological information of specific relevance to the conduct of health disparities research to qualified students, faculty, and community partners. The Community Engagement and Outreach Core will facilitate university-community partnerships, with the ultimate goal of improved minority health and reduced health disparities in Chicago. The aims of the 2 research projects are: Study 1: To develop a model of disparities in mortality from prostate and colorectal cancer in the Chicago metropolitan area to conduct a population-based analysis of potential clinical, social, and healthcare-related mechanisms for the mortality disparities; Study 2: To identify the barriers contributing to the racial/socioeconomic disparities in colorectal cancer treatment care continuum. The Community Core includes a specific dissemination project aimed at reducing breast cancer mortality. With very strong institutional commitment, stellar leadership, integrating the full complement of our 6 health sciences programs, we aim for a comprehensive strategy incorporating research, education, policy changes, and community partnerships to reduce health disparities in Chicago and Illinois.